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Don't do it

Extended warranties are wonderful—for the dealers who sell them. What you are buying is a magic feather that will make you feel safe enough to fly.

Toyota has proven that the Prius is as reliable as any car (which means that some will be worse than others), so don't let the dealer fool you into thinking it's some weird new technology that nobody understands. I get my oil changed by a local mechanic for far less than a dealership would charge. I only take it to the dealership for free recall visits.

Since I'm happy to pay a company to make a car that I don't have to bring in for service, I feel that some extended warrantees can have value, however, you must be very careful or you will get taken. The only time I see extended warrantees being of value is if:

- it is backed by the manufacturer and apply at any dealership (third party extended warrantees have been known to become void when the third party company went out of business)
- 100,000 mile/ 6 years only. This is the 'well behaved' life of an automobile. no one with any integrity will insure you for longer and less time or mileage isn't as likely to be worth the effort.
- zero deductible. You don't want to get soaked for $50 each time you have to bring your car in to a questionably competant mechanic and not really get it fixed. Zero deductable makes it the manufacturer's problem, anything more makes it your problem.
- you must plan to keep the car for more than the length of the warrantee
- there must be a dealer close and convenient to where you live
- it's best if they permit oil changes from 3rd parties although this is not totally necessary.
- you realize that you may not actually save money with the extended warrantee but you do place the burden of making the car reliable back upon the manufacturer.
- look at the price of the extended warrantee and make a judgement call. Again, I stress not to back down on the coverage to make it cheaper.

Prices dropping (?)

Just bought a Prius yesterday: (Package 2): $21888 + T, L and $55 doc fee: OTD for just under $24K! Miller Toyota of Anaheim (CA), internet fleet mgr: David Hatch. Got his bottom-line bid, with absolutely no hassle, in response to my email; picked up the car the next day. My guess is the falling tax credit, more Prius units shipped to US, combined with Toyota's ambitious sales goal for 2007 (300K units) will continue to pressure dealers to finally "deal". But this was the only offer I received that was significantly below MSRP.